Sterling County, Texas History

Sterling County, Texas

History

They Call It Sterling City, with Marj Carpenter

The first early settlers wandered around the area of Sterling City when the army was setting up outposts from Fort Concho around 1852. Earlier the Comanche Indians had roamed the area. In 1920, W. F. and Tom Kellis dug up a cave which held the grave of a Comanche chief. It had the beaded mantel like their chiefs wore, placed on the skull which remained in thecave. But then the very first explorer to end up in Sterling County was probably somebody like Cabeza de Vaca in 1538 or Coronado in 1540. Coronado mentioned pearls and many thought those were the shells on the Conch river. In 1850, two Franciscan Monks were reported to have camped on the Rio Concho in the Sterling County area. In fact Robert E. Lee was thought to have stopped at Camp Cooper in 1865. But the first white man to stay for any length of time was Capt. W.S. Sterling. He was a buffalo hunter, rancher and an Indian fighter. He stopped around the Sterling City area where he would hunt buffalo and ship them to Fort Concho. In 1893, the Fort Worth Gazette ran a story calling Capt. Sterling an old frontiersman without fear. It was reported that the Indians feared Capt. Sterling for his cool courage and his deadly Winchester.

Lots of little settlements sprung up and lots of people lived in the area, including Jesse and Frank James, who broke wild horses near the Concho River for a couple of years. There were soldiers at Camp Elizabeth, which was an army hospital post nearby. Earliest survey in the county records shows Christian Fritz purchasing 320 acres on April 15, 1853. Later, the Southern Pacific surveyed the county. Most of the area was open range until the 1880's. Early ranchers included the Peacock Bros., Schuster, Henry and Company, D.A. Earnest and W.J. Holland just to name a few. H.W. and W.C. Foster were among the first settlers along the creek in 1881. There were many others that followed. On March 4, 1891, the county was cut away from Tom Green County and named for Capt. Sterling.

There were three towns thought to be in contention for county seat. They were Montvale, Cummmings and Sterling City. The battle for the county seat got down between Sterling City and Cummings. Both towns had a little newspaper, and they spent several months calling each other names. They had two elections with Cummings winning the first time and Sterling City the last time. The last time was the one that counted. Today. Sterling City has the courthouse, the post office, a central school system, the county officials, several churches, and businesses strung out along Highway 87. Cummings is gone. You better slow down when you drive through Sterling City because that highway is their Main Street. They will give you a ticket. They have a lot of ranch families that are third and fourth generation settlers in Sterling County. They are proud of their history, proud of their heritage and they get along fine. You can walk around the shaded streets in the late evenings in no danger. The sheriff says there are very few major crimes and nearly every time there is one, it's a drifter passing through. They have "sterling" friendships that survive many years of wear. They are hardy, hospitable, friendly and typical of the early settlers of the West. That's at Sterling City, out where I ride fence. Big Spring Herald | Big Spring, Texas | Friday, October 21, 1977 - transcribed by Janice Rice

They Called It Cummings, with Marj Carpenter

Most folks nowadays think Sterling City is the only town that ever was strong in Sterling County. But there was a day when Cummings and Sterling City had a rip roaring battle to decide which would be the county seat. Cummings was located right where Will Durham's home stands. That's on the edge of Sterling City as you head back on Highway 87 past the Y and start toward Big Spring. In the backyard of the Durham's home, which they built in 1925 and which they have now occupied for over 50 years, is a water well which at one time was the Cummings Community well. In 1891, it looked as though Cummings was the up and coming place around. R.B. Cummings had originally operated a saddle and harness shop at a place called Montvale. He had then moved his feed lot to what was later Cummings. The new community had a North Concho News and the Concho Valley Saloon, operated by F.C. Sparkman. Swift and Reeves had a dry goods store and grocery and J.E. Armstrong ran a grocery store. A.J. Kellis had a blacksmith shop and there was a barber shop owned by A.G. McGee. The prosperous little village had a meat market, a post office and school. A fellow named W.L. Thurman operated the newspaper in the thriving community. On April 10, 1891, Sterling County was officially broken away from Tom Green County and there was an election held to decide where the county seat would be. The voting places included Pollick's Store at Cummings, the D.E. Holloway Ranch, L.M. Lenam Ranch, W.T. Lewis Ranch, J.H. Kellis Ranch, J.L. Latham's house in Sterling City, W.N. Hilers Ranch, Jackson Ranch and a place on Sterling Creek. In the North Concho News, the editor claimed that Cummings had better drainage, a clearer land title and progressive items such as a mill and gin. Cummings won the election with 98 votes for Cummings to 94 for Sterling City. The election was contested and turned out to have so many invalid votes that it was set to be held again. Then the two newspapers really began a battle. They claimed, what sounds like environmentalists today — such things as who had the most mosquitoes and who had the deepest mud. At one point, one of the two editors boldly called the other one a braying jackass. Cummings backers held a barbecue. But when the second vote was counted it 116 for Sterling City and 103 for Cummings. There are still some Sterling County residents descended from early Cummings backers, who maintain, "Some folks voted twice. There wasn't that many people in the county." And that was the day that Cummings died. Nearly everything moved on down the river to Sterling City and Cummings was no more. But the well is still there and a few of the early trees, that are among the many beautiful trees in the Durham yard, remain out where I ride fence and there once was a town called Cummings.
Big Spring Herald | Big Spring, Texas | Friday, October 07, 1977 [transcribed by Janice Rice]